Undersheriff: Man threatened to kill judge

A city man who’s served four prison terms was arrested hours after he screamed to a crowd inside the Amsterdam Public Library Wednesday morning that he was going to kill a county judge, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said Miguel A. Carmona entered the library at 11:45 a.m,, printed out a picture of the judge and an article on one of the judge’s cases. He then allegedly held the items in the air and shouted that he was going to kill the judge, Undersheriff Jeffery Smith said.

Carmona, 42, of 51 Vanderveer St., then left the library.

Smith would not identify the judge who was threatened, saying he wanted to prevent any future threats against the judge. The judge was in court at the time of threat, Smith said.

Carmona never went to the court and was arrested in the parking lot of an Amsterdam Wal-Mart at 5 p.m. He was charged with making a terrorist threat, a felony.

Carmona was arraigned and sent to Montgomery County Jail without bail.

Smith said the crime falls under the terrorism guidelines because Carmona threatened a government official.

Carmona still had the photograph and article he held up inside the library in his possession when he was arrested, Smith said, adding that the judge had previously either ruled against Carmona in a hearing or sentenced him to prison time.

Carmona has served five years in prison stretched across four different terms since 1997, according to Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correctional Services.

In 1997, Carmona was sentenced by Judge Richard C. Giardino to 1 2/3 to 3 1/2 years in prison for attempted burglary, Foglia said. Carmona was released in 1998, but briefly returned to prison twice for violating parole later that year and again in 1999.

Carmona then stayed out of prison until 2006, when he was sentenced by Judge Felix J. Catena for 1 1/2 to 3 years in prison on a criminal contempt conviction for punching a man in the face, Foglia said.